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The proportion of Americans with a broadband connection (such as cable or DSL) at home has dropped for the first time. The surprise trend appears to be down to cost and people using smartphones as their main way to get online. The revelation comes ... from the Pew Research Center, which regularly surveys the public on tech and communications issues. It found the percentage of people who say they have broadband at home is now 67 percent, down from 70 percent in 2013. (Source: pewinternet.org ) Broadband Use Falling Across The Board While that could be a statistical quirk, it's borne out by the ... (view more)

A new report suggests that Americans pay more for their Internet plans than residents of most other industrialized nations. Not only that, but Americans also pay more for slower service. The report was produced by the New America Foundation's Open ... Technology Institute, which compared Internet service in major US cities -- like Kansas City, Missouri, and Bristol, Virginia -- with large European and Asian metropolises, including London, Seoul, Paris, Tokyo, and Copenhagen. Internet Cost Comparisons of USA, Europe and Asia The report found that the estimated monthly cost for a plan featuring ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Nurse Lynda' writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks so much for fixing my computer [over the Internet] - it's amazing to see you work ... you sure know your stuff! ... [I have a question]: I have recommended your 'Remote Desktop Support' ... services to my friends on Facebook, but they don't understand how [you can fix my computer over the Internet]? Specifically, they are asking what is the meaning of 'Remote' Desktop Support? I've tried to explain, but they just don't understand it. Do you have a page explaining this? " My response: ... (view more)

Earlier this week application analytics firm SoftWatch revealed a report which found that, at many businesses, workers rarely used the Microsoft Office software package . That prompted some experts to suggest companies move away from Office and ... instead use free business platforms, like Google Apps. Ditching Microsoft Too Costly, UK Official Says Now, the United Kingdom's Chief Information Officer (CIO) is defending the UK government's use of Microsoft products. In fact, Jos Creese says that the UK government has repeatedly explored the idea of abandoning Microsoft products, but always ... (view more)

With the holiday shopping season on the horizon, you can bet tablet computers will be under many Christmas trees this coming December. One of the tech industry's most anticipated tablets is Microsoft's Surface, which has been unveiled but not yet ... officially released, or even priced. However, one analyst is now predicting that the Surface will retail for $399 -- and up. Microsoft Out At Least $300 Per Unit: Prediction Sameer Singh is a tech industry analyst with consulting firm Finvista Advisors. In a recent blog post he made some bold predictions about the cost of each individual component ... (view more)

Those of us who attended college know just how expensive course textbooks can be. So it's good news that students may be able to purchase much cheaper, digital editions of these required texts for their iPad tablet computers. Apple recently unveiled ... iBooks 2, software it says could revolutionize the U.S. (and perhaps global) education market. Apple has been working closely with major textbook producers, including Pearson PLC, McGraw-Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, in search of a viable, digital alternative to those very expensive physical texts. Together, these three firms own roughly 90 ... (view more)

The popularity of Blu-ray players appears to be rising, just a year after doubters predicted that the devices -- which launched three years ago for $800-$1,000 each -- would fade into oblivion because of their marginal improvement over standard DVD ... players. Much of that negative thinking has changed, and as you might expect, it has a lot to do with the plummeting cost of buying a Blu-ray player. Blu-ray Price Drop One of Many in Tech Market When the devices first launched three years ago, many cost nearly $1,000 -- a lot of money for most U.S. families, even in a pre-recession North America. ... (view more)

Documents unsealed by a federal court in the "Vista Capable" lawsuit reportedly reveal that Microsoft would have to come up with as much as $8.5 billion to settle accounts with customers affected by its 2006 "Vista Capable" marketing debacle. Keith ... Leffler, a University of Washington economist and expert witness for the plaintiffs, estimates that it would cost a minimum of $3.92 billion to as much as $8.52 billion to upgrade the 19.4 million PCs that were sold as Vista Capable to hardware capable of running premium versions of Windows Vista. (Source: computerworld.com ) Leffler said in a ... (view more)

The new iPhone 3G has made headlines with a price $100 lower than the original 8GB model. A recent study by hardware analysts iSuppli estimates that the manufacturing cost for each phone is $173.00 (the original cost $280.82). Thus, the company ... makes a $26.00 profit on each handset. iSuppli offers two reasons why the profit margin is high, and why the price of the device has dropped by one third. First, mobile phone providers have always lost money on delivering handsets, but made them up via subscriber fees. The analyst firm ballparks Apple will get about $300 per unit from wireless ... (view more)

Announced earlier this week, a group of technology companies are planning to provide a vast wireless network that will give the entire Silicon Valley free high-speed Internet access. The free WiFi service will be available as early as next year and ... will be provided by Silicon Valley Metro Connect: a group that is comprised of IBM, Cisco, SeaKay, and Azulstar. (Source: abcnews.com ) Silicon Valley Metro Connect will provide the service for 38 cities in California's San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, and Santa Cruz counties -- an area covering roughly 1,500 square miles. This move takes advantage ... (view more)